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Tony Buzan Power Learning Camp in Singapore


I'm pleading guilty of a mild infection with Singapore's education enrichment fever. Since I'm a big fan of Mindmaps, I though giving the kids a head start and let them learn about the mindmaps from the master himself. So I signed them up for the " Power Learning Camp" with the snappy tag line "let your child be trained in Buzan Learning Techniques". I was expecting the use of mindmaps throughout the course since they were introduced on the second day. The agenda had also math topics and I was curious how Mindmaps would help in math skills.In my MindMap the week was looking like this:
Mindmap of the Powerlearning Camp schedule
However it turned out, that MindMaps were only a very small part of the 5 day course. The rest of the stuff looked suspiciously like all the worksheet based stuff the kids went through in Kindergarten and now in primary school. Also Anthony and Ernest described the class as rather boring. There I'm not sure if it is a fairy tale reaction or if they genuinely disliked it. I'm kind of disappointed of the outcome and think it might not be money well spend (that is a politically very correct statement, my thoughts were actually a little more harsh).
At least that experience works like a vaccine against the next "Enrichment fever infection". Conclusion for holiday activities: if it is not out-doors it will not happen.

Posted by on 17 June 2007 | Comments (1) | categories: Singapore

Comments

  1. posted by Slawek Rogulski on Monday 18 June 2007 AD:
    I find the computer based tools a bit too structured but I like the ease of editing as opposed to a paper based map. Have you tried Axon Idea Processor? Mind Mapping is only one of the things it can do. It does concept maps quite nicely, although even then I find myself returning to a white board. I wonder if there are any workshops for kids or otherwise based on DeBono's work. It looks quite intriguing what he has come up with over the years.
    Slawek